BIOTECH EXPERTS

Dr. C. S. Prakash, Professor in Plant Molecular Genetics and Director of the Center for Plant Biotechnology Research at Tuskegee University, oversees research on food crops of importance to developing countries and the training of scientists and students in plant biotechnology. He has also been actively involved in enhancing the societal awareness of food biotechnology issues around the world.

Dr. Prakash serves on the USDA's Agricultural Biotechnology Advisory Committee and also on the Advisory Committee for the Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India. He has actively worked to promote biotechnology research in developing countries in Asia and Africa and has trained students and scholars through research collaboration and lectures.

Dr. Prakash has a Bachelor's degree in agriculture and a Masters in genetics from India, and obtained his Ph.D. in forestry/genetics from the Australian National University, Canberra. His research interests include studies on transgenic plants, gene expression, tissue culture and plant genomics. Dr. Prakash's group at Tuskeegee pioneered the development of transgenic sweet potato plants, identification of DNA polymorphism in peanut plants, and the development of a genetic map of cultivated peanut. They have recently enhanced the protein content of crops several-fold through genetic modification. Dr. Prakash has more than fifty scientific publications in refereed journals and has presented more than 100 papers at meetings.

Dr. Prakash's 'Declaration in Support of Agricultural Biotechnology' has received endorsements from over 3,000 scientists from across the world, including Nobel Laureates Dr. Norman Borlaug, Dr. James Watson, Dr. Peter Doherty and Dr. John Boyer.

Dr. Prakash also serves as an advising editor to www.agbioforum.org, a Web journal devoted to agbiotech issues, and www.agbiotechtech.net, a British Internet portal. Through www.agbioworld.org, he has disseminated information and promoted discussion on the subject of agricultural biotechnology among scientists, activists and journalists.

Additionally, Dr. Prakash has been invited to the United Nations Committee on Sustainable Development, has given testimony to the U.S. Congressional Committee on Science, lectured at a seminar during the WTO meeting in Seattle, and took part in a televised debate with Dr. Vandana Shiva on the Indian TV program 'Cross Fire' on DoorDarshan. His many major speaking engagements around the globe include the Congressional Forum on World Hunger at the U.S. Capitol, the keynote address at the inaugural meeting of AfricaBio in Pretoria and the Biotech2000 conference in New Delhi, and presentations on behalf of the U.S. State Department.

Dr. Florence Wambugu provides expert insights on the technology of agricultural biotechnology, with a focus on food security in Africa and the developing world.
She serves as Executive Director of A Harvest Biotech Foundation International (AHBFI), a non-profit foundation with offices in California, Kenya and Johannesburg, South Africa. The vision and mission of the foundation is to alleviate malnutrition, hunger and poverty using biotechnology tools and information to introduce crops and products that increase harvest and generate income through development of sustainable agriculture.

In 2001, Dr. Wambugu published her book, Modifying Africa: How biotechnology can benefit the poor and hungry, a case study from Kenya.
Prior to her work at AHBFI, Dr. Wambugu directed the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications’ African Region Office (ISAAA - AfriCenter) in Nairobi from 1994-2001. She received her Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of Bath in England in 1991, and also completed post-doctoral research in genetic engineering at Monsanto in St. Louis.

A recipient of numerous international research awards and grants, Dr. Wambugu has previously been named American Biography’s Woman of the Year and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute’s Outstanding Scientist of the Year. Dr. Wambugu has also published and presented countless papers on the role of agricultural biotechnology in developing countries as well as the technical advances she has achieved in the laboratory with genetically modified sweet potatoes. Most recently, she has addressed the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Outlook Forum on the future of agricultural biotechnology in world trade, as well as presenting on the topic of agricultural biotechnology in developing countries in Sweden and speaking to audiences at an African agricultural research week in Mozambique. Associated Press writers have followed Dr. Wambugu and her work in numerous articles over the last decade. She resides in Nairobi, Kenya, where she is a parent to three children.